College Football Playoff 2015: Fresh Predictions Following Week 13 Results

College football's regular season is all but over after a gripping Week 13 that saw the College Football Playoff picture become a bit clearer. 

With two more rankings set to be released by the CFP committee, some teams have seen their playoff hopes go up in smoke while others are on a collision course with New Year's Eve games. 

Now with conference championship games left to play, here is a prediction of who the Top Four teams will be when the committee releases its final rankings. 

No. 1: Clemson

Clemson has been the No. 1 team since the first CFP rankings were released and have done little to deserve a drop from that status. 

As one of just two undefeated teams left in the nation (No. 4 Iowa is the other), Clemson has just one more hurdle before solidifying its spot in the playoff and that's the ACC championship game against North Carolina. 

The No. 14 Tar Heels have been one of the hottest teams in the nation, winning 11-straight games after losing their opener to South Carolina. 

A win against the Tar Heels should be all the committee needs to put the Tigers at No. 1. 

No. 2: Alabama

If Alabama had not lost to Ole Miss, it would be No. 1. But a one-loss team shouldn't be No. 1 if there's an undefeated team in the mix. 

However, ESPN's Paul Finebaum thinks otherwise:

The Crimson Tide have a stellar mixture of a top-five defense along with an offense spearheaded by one of the top running backs in the nation with Derrick Henry. 

With Alabama facing the Florida Gators, who have been struggling offensively as of late, it should have an easy go at the SEC championship game. 

No. 3: Oklahoma

A win over Oklahoma State won the Sooners the Big 12 Conference and all but punched their ticket into the playoff. 

With no conference championship game, they have a clear path. 

Three-straight wins over ranked opponents in TCU, Baylor and Oklahoma State is going to boost its resume enough in that it would be near impossible to keep the team out of the playoff. It's been quite a turnaround compared to 2014 as ESPN Stats & Info pointed out:

A top-10 offense and a top-25 defense will certainly make noise come January. 

No. 4: Michigan State

The fourth spot in the playoff is going to come down to whichever team wins the Big 10. A spot that was reserved for Ohio State for most of the season went to the Spartans after their win over the Buckeyes. 

Having already defeated one undefeated team, Michigan State has another in No. 4 Iowa in the Big 10 championship game. 

Head coach Mark Dantonio told USA Today Sports' Nicole Auerbach that he believes the team is getting hot at the right time:

"

We're playing our best football down the stretch, and if you look and compare us to last year's Big Ten champion, that's what they were able to do. Even though we lost to Nebraska, we knew we were still in control. We had to win it — if we were going to win it, it wasn't going to be given to us. We had to play this football game and take it as opposed to playing cautious and standing back and saying, 'I hope we don't lose.' We had to play this game to win. That's the mentality our guys went out with.

"

This will be Iowa's first true test of the season. After weeks of hearing it has had a cupcake schedule for most of the season, the pressure of playing for the conference against a team that has had big-game experience might prove too much. 

Stats courtesy of ESPN.com